One Piece: Heather Strelitzia

Chapter 2: Act 1 - Prologue

A/N

I just want to reiterate that the updates will be biweekly and chapter length will increase eventually once I get a better hang of the characters and such.

Special thanks to Fox for helping out with the fic as well as Archer, Murph and Maruf for beta.

x.x

Chapter 2: Friendship

"How old are you, Luffy?" Robin asked.

"Five. You?"

"You're a baby! I am nine years old, which means I am older than you," Robin said with her tongue stuck out.

"Not fair," Luffy moaned, until suddenly his head perked up and his expression quickly changed into one of seriousness. "I will become older than you one day," the boy said with determination, making the girl sweat drop. He really was stupid but still, this stupid boy was now her friend, so it didn't matter to her though he could use some help in the intelligence department.

After the introductions were done, both the kids started playing together in the woods as though there was no tomorrow. Robin, who had been guarded at the start, had slowly and steadily opened up with Luffy, letting her emotions show once again and letting herself enjoy this. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think that she'd find a friend out of nowhere, somehow trust said friend, and come out of her shell without having to force herself for it. She had been having fun until they came.

"Hey, freak! Who did you trick this time?" one of the kids jeered at Robin as soon as he saw her.

"Robin, what is he saying?" Luffy asked confusedly.

"Will you tell him, or should I tell him, freak?" another kid jeered.

"Robin?" Luffy asked once again, turning towards her fully this time.

However, the girl was frozen stiff, suddenly unable to move or think. The recent memory surfacing and her wound opening up once again. She tried to bury it deep within her as she usually would, but the memory kept playing within her head again and again. Her head was down as her bangs covered her eyes, hiding the pain and small droplets of tears that had started forming. She wanted it to stop. Why couldn't it? Why did it have to hurt so much?

"She's a freak and a bad person," the first kid started. "She does nothing but trick people to get things done."

Robin, on her part, couldn't defend herself. Only listen to all the jeers thrown her way as she was frozen stiff, trying to get out of the endless loop. The insults weren't helping her at all, and the tears weren't drying up.

Luffy had a blank look on his face as he processed whatever he had heard. He was only five years old and had very little experience of the real world. So instead of thinking anything else, he went with his gut instinct. He turned towards his new friend, hunched over, and looked at her. It surprised him to see that she had started crying yet again, and a similar pain as before started welling up in his chest, making him uncomfortable. He was convinced that this pain had to do with his friend being upset hence, he would do anything to make her happy again. His expression became gentle as he lifted her head up and looked into her blue eyes, which were now puffy.

"Don't cry Robin, I am your friend. If they are not your friends, they are not my friends." Luffy said. The logic didn't exactly make sense, but then again, he was five. What could one expect from a child his age?

The line of reasoning made Robin laugh a little in between her sobs as she tried wiping the tears from her face. The voices of the others had slowly started fading in the background as she focused on her first friend ever.